• Eochaid@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      10
      arrow-down
      3
      ·
      1 year ago

      That’s an even bigger contentious debate. And the fact that there is no one mutually agreed on answer means we either need a formal definition in the rules or the people in this community need to understand that there are people that exist with a broader or narrower definition of technology than they have.

      That said, like it or not, go to any major tech blog, podcast, YouTuber, and they all talking about X / Twitter. The tech communities outside of Lemmy have all agreed that Twitter / X is technology. And Lemmy doesn’t live in a bubble.

    • agent_flounder@lemmy.one
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      4
      ·
      1 year ago

      I think it would help define it or give examples of what it is or isn’t intended to include. Should it include biotech, materials tech, or is it limited to computers, Internet, AI? Or…?

      Technology to me includes things like papyrus and typewriters and the above and much more. But what I expect to see in a technology community is narrower than that.

      • xthedeerlordx@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        4
        arrow-down
        2
        ·
        1 year ago

        I think it would help define it or give examples of what it is or isn’t intended to include.

        Agreed. I’d rather not see this place turn into frontpage news for tech companies (even if the subtext is critical). Currently the predominant things being posted are Elon/X or Big Tech Bad. I feel that if the focus was more on the technology aspect, we can get away from the gossipy/reactionary “news”

        • Eochaid@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          5
          arrow-down
          3
          ·
          1 year ago

          …but that’s what happens when you call a community “technology”. Its a pretty damn broad category and these days, incredibly mainstream.

          Communities like " technology" are going to be as mainstream as they were on Reddit. There is nothing you can do about it unless you convince the mods to spend 14 hours a day curating and removing posts from people with mainstream definitions.

          If you want a more curated definition, or you have more niche interests, then you probably want to go to a different community. Heck, maybe start your own. Be the change you want to see.

          It seems a bit silly to go to a community called “technology” and then complain that it represents what 90% of technology news sources are talking about.

      • Techmaster@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        1 year ago

        Typewriters are technology, but information about what color of shoes is being worn by the guy who bought the typewriter patent from its inventor isn’t technology.

    • Kethal@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      10
      arrow-down
      8
      ·
      1 year ago

      It seems a lot of people here think that anyone who runs a Web site is a tech company.

      • funkless@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        5
        ·
        1 year ago

        they… do? it’s like the “what is art” debate. the answer is “whatever you want it to mean in that moment and it can be different in the next moment”

          • funkless@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            1 year ago

            So news of an online store doing shady shit constitutes as “tech news” because they run a web site?

            So writing “R MUTT 1917” on a urinal and putting it in an art gallery constitutes as “art” just because they said it is?

            etc etc

              • funkless@lemmy.world
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                1
                ·
                1 year ago

                yes, I was using the famous example that broke the Fin De Ciele -era snobbery about art and the distinction between artist and artisan to make a point.

                my point is that you can’t define it. So you say “should posts about the wheel be included?”

                and the answer is if you exclude all things about wheels where do you draw the line? someone creates a new type of ball bearing that revolutionizes manufacturing, but thats not allowed because it’s a wheel? Someone uses a new archeological discovery about an ancient device to invent a modern one? No posts about cars, trains etc? No posts about waterwheel generated activity?

                It becomes impossible to police.

      • Eochaid@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        7
        arrow-down
        3
        ·
        1 year ago

        Go to any tech site, publication, podcast YouTuber, etc. All of them are talking about Twitter. Mainstream tech has agreed that Twitter / Facebook are tech.

        Im not saying I agree. I’m not saying even that I care about these topics. I don’t. I think Musk is an idiot and actively avoid news about his BS. But clearly a lot of people do care and a lot of people agree that Twitter is tech.

        If this community wants to specify a definition of tech that differs from the mainstream, then they need to put it in the rules and accept that we need to control the acceptable conversation because certain members of the community are getting triggered by having to scroll past posts related to Musk or his properties.

        • Kethal@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          6
          arrow-down
          4
          ·
          1 year ago

          This statement indicates that what is technology is decided by popular opinion, not by any inherent meaning in words. Certainly the meaning of words change with time and they have no inherent meaning, so in a very real sense, definitions are decided by popular vote. However, if Twitter is a tech company, then so is every newspaper, magazine, bank, credit card company, any business with a data base for inventory management. It’s a useless definition. Let’s go with the actual mainstream definition of a tech company, a company that develops, produces, licenses or sells technology or technology services, and Twitter doesn’t do any of that. It sells ad space and subscriptions, the business model of a media company.

          • Eochaid@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            7
            arrow-down
            3
            ·
            1 year ago

            Friendo…

            That’s how language works. Language evolves and adapts over time via social pressure. Nobody uses words exactly as they are defined in the Oxford English Dictionary. Words are given meaning by people and inevitably those meanings shift and change as people use them in new and different ways.

            Just because you adopted pedantry in order to push out topics you hate hearing about doesn’t mean everyone else has to adopt your constructed definitions.

            • xthedeerlordx@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              3
              arrow-down
              2
              ·
              1 year ago

              Just because you adopted pedantry in order to push out topics you hate hearing about doesn’t mean everyone else has to adopt your constructed definitions.

              It’s not so much about the definitions as it is about the expectations. This is lemmy, we aren’t in a bubble, remember… and just because you go with whatever the mainstream tells you doesn’t prevent other users from trying to determine if this community meets our expectations of discussions around actual technology rather than mainstream gossip.

            • Kethal@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              1
              arrow-down
              2
              ·
              1 year ago

              Yes, I’ve just said that languages evolve. I’m saying that “technology companies” has not yet and will not ever evolve to mean “companies that develop, produce, license or sell technology or technology services, and also Twitter”. When Twitter starts getting involved in tech, it will be a tech company.

        • DogMuffins@discuss.tchncs.de
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          3
          arrow-down
          2
          ·
          1 year ago

          This argument is kind of saying “/c/technology should contain any topics which are interesting to people subscribed to /c/technology”.

          We’re not a publication, podcast, or youtuber. This is a community aggregating posts about the topic of choice. We’re not trying to gather up users by posting things that are interesting to our existing users.

        • Eochaid@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          1
          arrow-down
          2
          ·
          1 year ago

          What defines “real piece of shit?”

          What defines “nuts”

          There are plenty of people who would call Lemmy a “real piece of shit” and all of us “nuts”.